MSU-N's Jensen named Frontier All-Conference

The Frontier Conference volleyball season officially came to an end Saturday night when the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears beat the Lewis-Clark State Warriors in the Frontier tournament championship match in Butte.

But during the tournament, the league handed out its annual postseason honors, and one Montana State University-Northern Skylight made the list.

Northern junior Dayna Jensen, who played her final season for the Skylights in 2014, was named Frontier Second-Team All-Conference. Jensen, a two-year starter, who spent four years at MSU-N, tallied a team-high 283 kills this season, which placed her sixth in the Frontier for the year. Jensen was also second on MSU-N’s squad with 283 digs. She also totaled 33 blocks and 24 aces in the last year of an outstanding Skylight career for the Lewistown native.

While MSU-N only had one player selected to the 2014 All-Conference Team, it was no surprise that two-time league champion RMC had five. And leading the way was senior Yang Yang, who was First-Team All-Conference for the second straight year, and was named the 2014 Frontier Conference Player of the Year. Yang is also a leading candidate for NAIA Player of the Year as her No. 1 Battlin’ Bears seek a national championship this season. Yang’s coach, Laurie Kelly, was named Frontier Conference Coach of the Year.

Other Frontier awards included Carroll College’s Rebecca Sweeney being named Libero of the Year, LC State’s Desiree Neilson being named Frontier Newcomer of the Year and RMC’s Tori Bertsch earning the Frontier Setter of the Year. Westminster’s Taylor Gustafson was named Frontier Freshman of the Year.

Overall, LCSC and Carroll were second to Rocky, with three players each being named All-Conference. Great Falls and Montana Tech each had two, while UM-Western, Northern and Westminster each had one player selected.

Thursday night’s Frontier Awards Banquet was also where the NAIA Champions of Character were announced for 2014. Each team from the Frontier had one player selected. For 2014, Northern freshman defensive specialist Kylie Pasieka was named to the list.

2014 Frontier All-Conference Volleyball

First Team

Kathleen Mulligan, Carroll College, Sr., OH; Chelsea Strong, Lewis-Clark State, Sr., MH; Treneishia Doyle, Lewis-Clark State, Jr., OH; Desiree Nielson, Lewis-Clark State, Sr., MH; Korey Krum, Montana Tech, Sr., MB; Tori Bertsch, Rocky Mountain, Jr., S; Ahlea Billis, Rocky Mountain, Jr., OH; Anna DeWald, Rocky Mountain, Sr., MB; Yang Yang, Rocky Mountain, Sr., MB; Alyssa McEwan, Great Falls, Sr., RS; Madison Wilhelm, Great Falls, So., OH; Alexia Aalona, Westminster, Sr., OH.

Second Team

Crystal Schmidt, Carroll College, Jr., MH; Rebecca Sweeney, Carroll College, Jr., L; Dayna Jensen, MSU-Northern, Sr., OH; Kimmy Kavran, Montana Tech, Jr., L; Kendra Mendicino, UM-Western, Sr., L; BrieAnna Geck, Rocky Mountain, Sr., RS.

All-Freshman Team

Holly Morehouse, Carroll College, RS; Joanna Avery, UM-Western, MB; Dani Norling, Great Falls, S; Amara Culpepper, Westminster, MB; Magan Gallegos, Westminster, L; Taylor Gustafson, Westminster, S.